This week’s Vita & Virginia focuses on the friendship between two legendary authors. Gemma Arterton plays Vita Sackville-West while Elizabeth Debicki plays Virginia Woolf, two women living in 1920s London who run in slightly different social circles but have never met.
When their mutual admiration for each other’s work leads them to finally connect, it sparks an instant friendship as the two find in the other a complimentary spirit. That connection becomes something deeper as a romance forms, one that pushes past the boundaries of what society at the time was comfortable with but which would inspire both to creative heights.
The Posters
The two women are shown on the first poster in a warm and tender embrace, each wearing the kind of formal gown common to the story’s setting and each looking slightly troubled or at least wary. That the relationship between the two inspired one of Woolf’s best-known novels is made clear in the copy at the top of the design.
A second poster featured the same photo, just without the frame that cropped some of that photo on the first one.
The Trailers
Vita, we see in the first trailer, is a strong-willed and independent woman not afraid to speak her mind. One day she sets out to meet Woolf, whom she’s a fan of. The two become quick friends as they compare industry notes and relish in each other’s lifestyles. That friendship evolves into something more intimate over time, a relationship those around them don’t approve of in many ways. But the two inspire each other, despite their different temperaments.
Online and Social
Not much of note on IFC Films’ page for the movie, just standard stuff. It’s received some support on IFC’s social channels, but not as much as other releases, especially The Nightingale.
Advertising and Publicity
It’s been a year since the movie screened at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival to mixed reviews.
Media and Press
Not much on this front, not even any great number of interviews with the filmmakers or cast. That’s a little surprising.
Overall
The audience is being sold on a period romance that is meant to speak to our times and show women who might now identify as “queer” but who are also recognizable to many in the target demographic.
There’s some interesting stuff happening here, but the main focus is on the pair of Debicki and Arterton and the chemistry between the two of them. IFC may not have mounted a big campaign and it’s unlikely the film will go big in any way, but it still seems worth checking out.
Picking Up the Spare
IFC released a couple clips that expand on the relationship between the two women at the heart of the story. EW got another exclusive clip and others came out after that.
Cinematic Slant 